Shiloh Parker stood in the eye of the thunderstorm, the wind whistling violently in her ears and lapping-like tongues against her bear arms. She should have brought her jacket, she realizes as she trudges determinedly forward, converse slipping about in the thick clay mud. The wind was absolutely biting as it numbed her fingertips and whipped about her rose gold ponytail. She'd known it was a bad idea to come to the park during a thunderstorm...But this was the only time for 2 years the door would be open.; if she had any hope of getting Dannie back, she would have to go now! Who knew how strangely time flowed beyond the gate, what if she were in the other world so long that when Shiloh pulled her through, she'd wither to dust and slip away between her sister's fingers.
Shiloh shook her head wildly to dislodge the thought that burrowed like vermin, just as the wind picked up again, she set out along her path. She didn't fall for the same trick twice, she knew if she spent too much time fighting the black winged beast of the merry-go-round; or, if she tried to fight her way through the army of undead clowns, she'd miss her chance. No, she would make her way straight to the source...Straight to the hall of illusions.
Just then, a wave of thunder crackled so loud it made her ears ring, the whole of the Atlanta Park shook, nearly knocking her from her feet. A bolt of streaming white lightening crested the top of the park's only roller coaster, making her glad that she was down here and not up there. A new swath of pitch clouds dimmed what little light filled the wicked carnival. In a moment, the girl was a bathed in darkness, ahead she could only see by the eerie green glow of the twisting and turning hall that beckoned her forward,
Stumbling numbly through the frigid rain that cut like knives, she crept through the darkness, hoping she would remain undetected by the unusual staff that manned the park. Something happened to them when this kind of storm hit; it was as if this dry, little desert town received a true storm so rarely that the sight of it drove the carnival workers mad. She could hear from the main tent the chanting of the carnie congregation praying to their cotton candy monster deity (he would soon be here along with the giant ballon hound that breathed wind as hot as fire and the thing from the fry vat with its powdery tentacles). She had to hurry she thought as she looked beyond the chanting tent to see the sleeping orcish security guard with drool hanging from his green, concave, misshapen face. She could see in the yellowed fangs that stood from his jaws and the massive hands of gnarled claws that hung limply at his side; if it were to come to a fight with this thing, she stood no chance.
Her shoe let out as slight schelch as she pulled it from the reddish brown much that was trying to consume her...to pull her down to where perhaps her sister lye. No, her sister was not in hell, she didn't care what that old priest with a shotgun told her...She'd been pulled through the portal, but she was still alive...somewhere.
The man stirred, grumbling slightly and Shiloh raced forward with all the might in her legs, she ran past the cage that held the two-headed lions and the dogs with fur of sleek, green fire. They were from the other world certainly; she could tell by the color of their flames. She could not be sure of every creature in the park, but one of these certainly could help her find Danny. She slunk over to the bars of the cage, minding the reaching, poison thorn studded claws of a lion that swiped for her, letting out a roar. She pulled the tiny, spiny fish from her pocket, a crimson trout, it was the only way to reliably get one of the Jade hounds to listen to you. Producing the tiny fish, Shiloh reached down to the middle of the cage and risking her hand, letting fingers slip in between the heavy, black bars of the pen.
She stretched her fingers slightly towards the hound as it began to sniff her offering, praying silently in her head that the animal wouldn't find her knuckles a better meal; she let her fore finger and thumb lightly caress the nape of its neck, minding the glowing hot flames that licked mere centimeters from her fingers. The creature began t lick the fish after a long pause, before taking it between its massive teeth and in one feverish gulp the fish was gone.
The hound shifted its cage, sitting forward to face her and at last, it spoke in a voice as deep and as hollow as the thunder overhead.
"What is it you seek, my child?"
"If I free you, if I take you home. Will you help me find my sister? She's on the other side of the gate."
"Very well, release me and we have a deal."
Rummaging in her pocket, she son produced the iron keys that she'd stolen from the floating creature that ran the tilt-a-whirl before the storm had ended the night Danny was taken. She fumbled hastily with the rusty lock, flinging the door open and allowing the hound to leap free of its binding and lead the way out into the dim twilight that had fallen at six am. He knew the way and with his help she would rescue her sister.
Following the glow, the two stepped aboard the tilting metal cylinder of the hall and taking a last weary breath, Shiloh followed the canine into the void. The holographic door circling before finally falling open, they made their way through the even darker twilight of the mirrored room uncertain what fate awaited them.